Maybe This Time
by Navona
Summary: Jenny waves a hand casually. "I'm stealing your ship." Jenny/Rose.


**Title: **Maybe This Time

**Recipient: **hafital

**Pairing: **Rose/Jenny

**Rating: **PG-15.

**Word Count: **3247

**Summary: **Jenny waves a hand casually. "I'm stealing your ship."

**Spoilers: **Non specific for The Doctor's Daughter.

It happens, Rose would say later to the Doctor, quite suddenly. One moment she's standing in the console room with him, trying to decide where they want to go, and the next there's a blinding flash of light, and when Rose's eyes have recovered, she sees The Doctor has vanished altogether, and in his place stands a pretty young woman, about Rose's own age, complete with blonde hair and an army uniform.

The woman stares at Rose, head cocked. "You're not supposed to be here," she says, a little smile on her lips.

Rose blinks. "What do you mean _I'm _not supposed to -," Rose cuts herself off, and demands instead, "Who are you?"

"Jenny." The woman extends a hand, and then retracts it without waiting for Rose to shake it. "And you?"

"Rose," Rose says automatically, too taken aback to remember not to. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh." Jenny waves a hand casually. "I'm stealing your ship."

Rose tries not to let her mouth drop open. "I'm sorry?" she says. "You're _stealing_ the TARDIS?"

"That's right," Jenny says. She grins at Rose. "Mine needs an upgrade and I haven't got the time. Yours is much better. _And _it was in the area."

Rose stares. "And what exactly am _I_ supposed to do?" she demands.

"Well," Jenny says, "you weren't supposed to be here. The dimension transfer should have taken care of that. But never mind, I'll take you home before I leave. Where are you from?"

"Earth," Rose says, nonplussed. "21st century. But – look – we're not going back there. What have you done with my friend?"

"21st century?" Jenny echoes. She studies Rose. "That would be why the transfer didn't work. It's not built to scan for such primitive life-forms."

Rose grits her teeth. "What have you done with my friend?" she repeats.

"Not to worry," Jenny grins. "I've sent him to another dimension. Your friend won't feel a thing."

Rose stares. "Bring him back," she orders Jenny.

"Sorry," Jenny shrugs. "Can't. It's irreversible." She flips her top up a little, and Rose catches sight of a gun strapped to her hip. "Is it his ship or yours?" Jenny asks.

"His," Rose says, wary now.

"Well, then," Jenny says. "It doesn't matter to you whether I steal it or not. Now, let me drop you home and I'll be on my way."

She steps towards the controls, and studies them for a minute. She frowns, and turns to Rose.

"Do you know how to fly this thing?"

II

"Right," Jenny announces, after several minutes at the controls, experimenting with buttons and levers. Rose is leaning back against the TARDIS walls, arms folded and eyebrows raised challengingly as she watches. "We've landed."

Rose steps forward and squints. "No, we haven't."

"Yes, we have," Jenny says, seemingly unperturbed as she makes her way over to the doors. "I found the landing button; see, look -," She opens the doors. They stare out into white nothingness.

"Right." Jenny closes the doors and heads back to the controls. "Maybe that wasn't the landing button." She studies it closely. "Perhaps it was the vortex transmitter."

"Maybe," Rose says as nastily as she can, "it was the 'we're lost in space because some crazy woman is trying to steal the TARDIS and has sent the only person who knows how to fly it into a different dimension' button."

Jenny ignores her. "One more minute," she says to Rose. "I'll figure this out, and we'll have you home in no time."

Rose rolls her eyes and leans back against the wall.

II

Five failed landing attempts later, and Jenny is starting to look a little frustrated.

"This isn't how I wanted this to go," she informs Rose as she shuts the doors yet again.

"No," Rose says from where she's sitting on the floor. "I don't suppose it is."

It isn't until Jenny's pushed every button – one of which results in the TARDIS redecorating itself in a dazzling shade of pink – and pulled every lever, as well as crawled around underneath the grates to find anything she may have missed, that she admits defeat.

"Why is your ship so difficult to fly?" she asks Rose, fingering the gun on her hip. Rose hopes she's not planning on shooting the TARDIS into submission.

"I don't know," Rose snorts. "You'd have to ask the Doctor. She's not _my_ ship."

"Hold on." Jenny spins to face her. "Did you say The Doctor?"

"Yeah," Rose glares at her suspiciously. "You know him?"

A strange smile plays on Jenny's lips. "A bit, yeah." She turns back, running her hand over the controls. "This is his ship, is it?

Rose grits her teeth. "Yes."

"Well, then." Jenny spins to face her. "I suppose we'll just have to get him back."

Rose narrows her eyes. "I thought you said you couldn't do that."

"Not without a trans-vortex anti dimensional activator, no," Jenny agrees. "But I know how to build one."

"Great." Rose pushes herself off the wall. "How long will it take to make?"

"Well…" Jenny cocks her head and considers. "Shouldn't be longer than a week."

"A week!" Rose repeats incredulously, voice high. "And what are we supposed to do until then? Sit around here playing bingo?"

Jenny blinks. "What's bingo?"

"It's a -," Rose cuts herself off. "Never mind." She shakes her head.

"So," Jenny grins at her. "You going to show me around?"

II

She lets Jenny work alone in the console room for a few hours. Apparently there's a cupboard behind the controls that Rose has never noticed before, and it conveniently houses all the tools and materials Jenny needs. Jenny doesn't seem surprised at the ease with which she finds her materials, but Rose runs a grateful hand over the wall, and she feels the TARDIS thrumming back at her.

Jenny finds her in the closest kitchen a while later, and asks for supplies.

"Bit bright in here," she says, looking around at the now pink kitchen with its matching pink appliances and pink utensils.

Rose bites back a snide remark. She gets food for the both of them and follows Jenny back to the console room where a small contraption is beginning to take form.

Jenny works easily, body lithe and movements graceful, and Rose watches her, takes her in without meaning to.

When she blinks, the image is still in her mind, as if burned into the backs of her eyelids.

II

She half wakes in the middle of the night when the door opens, and somebody gets into the bed beside her.

"Doctor?" Rose mumbles sleepily, reaching out. When her hands meet soft flesh and long hair, she jerks awake, eyes flying open. "Jenny!" she hisses. "What are you doing here?"

"I didn't like the other bedroom you showed me," Jenny says. "And besides, I like to sleep _with_ someone."

"No," Rose says firmly. "You're not sleeping with me." She tries to forcibly push her out, but Jenny is much stronger than she looks, and it's Rose who almost falls out of the bed.

"Fine," she says, after a short struggle, during which she's sure she feels Jenny's gun smack into her. "You can stay. But no snoring."

Jenny grins. "Goodnight," she says, and turns away. Rose stares up into the darkness, sure she's not going to sleep at all tonight.

II

When she wakes, she's half tangled with Jenny; legs intertwined and bodies together. Rose pulls away abruptly, ignoring the way she kind of almost likes the feeling. Jenny stirs awake as she moves, and she gets up instantly, springing into work mode. Rose is a little impressed.

She lets Jenny work for the morning, and then brings her lunch. They eat together, Jenny still screwing in what looks like a lightbulb and talking out loud about the contraption she's building. Rose doesn't listen, just eats her sandwich and tries to stop staring.

II

She wakes up in the middle of the night with Jenny lying on her hair. She tries to pull it out from under the other woman, but she can't, and eventually she shakes Jenny awake.

"What's wrong?" Jenny asks, sitting up instantly as though she hadn't been deeply asleep seconds before. "Are we under attack?"

"No," Rose grumbles. "I wish we were. It might get rid of you." She sighs. "You were lying on my hair."

"Oh." Jenny lies down again. One of her legs finds its way to Rose's. "Sorry."

Rose shuts her eyes and doesn't reply.

II

She spends most of the next day with Jenny, watching her work on the activator. They don't talk a lot, because Jenny is focused on her task, and Rose has no idea what she's doing, so they mainly sit in silence together.

It's comforting and easy, and Rose wishes without wanting to that they could be sitting _together_, together, arms and thighs touching, blonde hair mingling. She shuts her eyes, but the image doesn't go away.

II

"Jenny," Rose says, when they've gotten into bed. She's curled quite deliberately away from Jenny, because she finds that she wants _too much_ to be closer to the other woman, and she doesn't like it.

"Yes," Jenny says.

"Why did you steal the TARDIS?"

It a ridiculous question to be asking _now_, three days after the attempted theft and three nights of sharing a bed, but Rose is suddenly incredibly curious.

"I told you," Jenny says. "I needed a new ship."

"I know," Rose says, "but, why? Why couldn't you stay in your old one?"

Jenny is silent for a moment. "I stole that too," she says, after a minute. "And the one before that." Rose feels Jenny shift towards her. "I don't know any other way."

"Don't they teach you to _buy_ things where you're from?" Rose snorts, turning over to face Jenny, and then catching herself and turning away again. "Where are you from, anyway?"

"Far away from here," Jenny says, and there's a grin in her voice. "I stole a ship to get away from there, but it didn't get me far. I got stranded for a while on a tourist planet, so I hitched a ride on a sight-seeing ship, and then when I got to a civilized planet, I stole another one." She stretched. "Never met a ship I couldn't fly before," she added. "I was born knowing how to fly most of them."

Rose pauses a moment. "So what do you do?" she asks finally. "With these ships you steal – what do you do?"

Jenny hesitates. "I travel," she says at last. "I save planets. And I run. There's a lot of running."

Rose frowns. "Sound likes someone else I know," she says. "The -,"

"Doctor," Jenny finishes for her, and they're both silent for a second.

"How do you know him?" Rose blurts out.

"He created me," Jenny says simply. "And I've sent him away."

Rose doesn't know what that means. She says nothing. They don't talk for the rest of the night.

II

"How's it going?" Rose asks the next afternoon. She's kept away from the console room all day, because she doesn't want to feel the things she's feeling for Jenny. She doesn't think hiding is working too well, though.

"Good," Jenny says, kneeling on the floor and fitting two pieces of something together. "Should only be a couple more days now." She grins up at Rose, and Rose feels her heart skip a beat. She grins back without meaning to, and then bites her lip to cover it up.

"Did you bring me anything to eat?" Jenny asks, pushing herself to her feet and brushing her hands off. She sticks her tongue out, and Rose thinks it's kind of adorable.

"I'm not your servant," she says, trying to sound irritated in an attempt to hide her feelings.

Jenny blinks. "I just wanted a bite," she says, countering the attack. She steps forward, hand going to her hip. "Something wrong with that? I _am_ building a machine for you to get back your precious Doctor."

"Because you sent him away in the first place!" Rose shouts. She's gone suddenly from pretend irritation to real anger. "None of this would have happened if you hadn't tried to steal _our_ ship!"

"Oh, should I stop building it then?" Jenny retorts. "And just sit around like you're doing? At least I'm getting us somewhere!"

"Oh yes, your wonderful dimensional vortex activity machine!" Rose says, stepping forward. "Brilliant, even though it takes forever to make, and doesn't seem to _do_ anything."

Jenny slaps her.

Rose stands stock still for a moment, and then turns. She walks out without a word.

II

Jenny kicks her when she crawls into bed that night, and Rose yelps.

"Sorry," Jenny says, without sounding sorry at all, and settles down beside her. Rose glares.

"I don't want you to sleep here," she says.

"But I like it here," Jenny protests. She slips a hand onto Rose's hip.

"I don't care," Rose says, ignoring the hand. "I don't like it, and I don't like _you_."

She feels particularly childish, so it's a surprise when Jenny retracts her hand and actually gets out of bed.

"Alright," she says. "Fine. I'll sleep somewhere else."

Rose watches her leave. She wishes it didn't hurt so much.

II

"Hello," Rose says. She stands into doorway of the console room, watching Jenny. It's been an entire day since they last saw one another, and Rose is almost ready for bed again. She doesn't want to go alone.

"Hello," Jenny says back. She barely glances up. The activator has grown in size, and actually looks like a real machine.

"Jenny," Rose says. She waits. Jenny keeps on working. Rose purses her lips.

"What?" Jenny asks, not looking at her.

Rose bites her lips. "Nothing," she says.

"Fine," Jenny says.

Rose watches for another minute.

"What?" Jenny asks again.

"Nothing," Rose snaps.

"Then what did you come here for?"

"To say I'm sorry!"

Rose shouts it angrily, and Jenny finally looks up at her. "Oh," she says. She stands up. "I forgive you."

"Good," Rose says. She can't help still sounding annoyed.

"Do we hug now?" Jenny asks.

Rose blinks. "Alright," she says.

They step toward one another cautiously, unused to physical contact outside of entangling themselves when they share Rose's bed. Rose awkwardly put her arms around Jenny, and Jenny steps nearer. She brushes a tiny kiss onto the corner of Rose's mouth. Rose pulls her closer.

They break apart, and Rose is sure her cheeks are red.

"Yes, well," she manages. "I'm going to bed." She doesn't quite dare ask the rest of the question.

"Give me a minute," Jenny says. "I'm coming with you."

Rose can't help smiling.

II

They sleep close that night, Jenny's arm over Rose's middle, their legs tangled, their foreheads pressed together. It was Jenny who had casually initiated the contact when they got into bed, and Rose found she didn't mind at all. With Jenny wrapped around her, sleep comes easily.

II

The activator is almost ready by the end of the next day. Rose is almost disappointed, but Jenny is proud of herself, and Rose is proud too. She pulls Jenny close when they get into bed, and, feeling daring, she presses a kiss onto her cheek. Jenny turns, smiling, and then her lips are on Rose's mouth, and Rose squeaks a little in surprise, but kisses back almost immediately.

Jenny lays on hand on Rose's hip, her lips still moving hungrily, and Rose opens her mouth to let Jenny's tongue inside. She moans somewhere in her throat, more turned on that she'd like to pretend, and she can feel Jenny smile against her lips. Jenny's kisses move from her mouth to run along her neck, nipping at her earlobe, and Rose lets her head fall back, and her hands moves from Jenny's shoulders down to cup what's below.

She stroke her thumbs over taut nipples, feeling them stiffen beneath her, and then she shifts her left hand upward and it's then that she feels it: instead the usual _ba-bump_, she feels _ba-ba bump-bump_. Rose draws back, breathing hard, staring at Jenny.

"Two hearts," she breathes. "You have two hearts."

"Yes," Jenny whispers. "I do."

"Are you – are you like him?" Rose asks, shock still colouring her voice. "A – a Time Lady?"

"No," Jenny says, still whispering. "No, I'm not." She doesn't say anything, just looks inexplicably sad, and Rose pulls her forward again, touching their lips together.

"It doesn't matter," she whispers. "It doesn't matter."

Later, when she's slid back on the bed, her tongue circling Jenny's clit, and two fingers inside of her, Jenny cries out a wordless name. There are tears on her cheeks when her hands travels down past Rose's stomach and through the curls between her thighs, but she carries on regardless, and when Rose stiffens, gasping, she buries her face in Jenny's neck, and kisses her, and Jenny finally stops crying.

II

They wake still pressed close together, bodies bare, and for once Jenny doesn't seem in a hurry to rise. Rose snuggles into her, and they end up spending the rest of the day in bed.

"The activator can be ignored for a day or two," Rose murmurs into Jenny's ear, and when Jenny seems about to protest, she nips the skin below it, and suddenly Jenny doesn't seem to object at all.

II

They get up the next day, and Rose sits with Jenny while she adds the finishing touches to the activator. When it's done, they stand up, facing one another, holding hands.

"Are you ready?" Jenny asks quietly.

Rose pulls her in for a lasting kiss.

"I'm ready," she says.

Jenny turns away from her and flicks a switch on the activator. The machine lights up, whirring away, and reality suddenly seems different. Rose stumbles a little, dizzy.

"Sorry," Jenny's voice says, sounding far away. "I didn't have time to stabilize it."

Rose's eyes clear, and she sees the Doctor in front of her, his eyes closed. As reality shifts back to normal, he snaps back into focus, eyes open and hands moving.

" – lovely place, Nectar, with its -," he stops suddenly. He's staring at Jenny.

"Hello again," Jenny says.

The Doctor's eyes darken. "Who are you?" he asks.

Jenny blinks, and then nods. "I'm Jenny," she says. "And you're a time traveler."

The Doctor stares at her, gaze dark. Rose is sure he can feel her two hearts beating alongside to his.

"We've got a lot to fill you in on," Rose says. She looks at Jenny and smiles.

II

When she goes to bed that night, it's cold, and lonely. The Doctor had dropped Jenny off on a nearby planet where she could buy a ship of her own. Rose had gotten the feeling that he'd wanted her off the TARDIS as soon as possible.

They'd had time for a quick goodbye. They'd promised to meet again. Rose knows they never will.

II

"So what was it like?" Rose asks the Doctor the next day, finding him in the console room. "Being in that other dimension?"

"Don't know," the Doctor grins at her. "Couldn't feel a thing. Didn't even realise I'd gone anywhere." He pulls a lever. "By the way," he adds casually. "Why has the whole TARDIS turned herself pink?"

Rose grins back, watching him dash around the controls. "Well," she says, "where's the bloody landing button?"


End file.
